From the casebook of Justice Marlowe Finch · Edition 1 · Free

The solar promise

Today’s paper is on the right, and the law you need is under “The code”. Work through ten steps, as a lawyer would, from headline to a fair statement of the facts. Everything here is invented.

Step 1 of 10

Step 1

Which of today’s stories raise a legal question?

Read the four front-page stories. Tick every story that, on what is reported, raises a legal question.

Homeowners say solar salesman promised ‘zero bills’; firm points to the small print

Rail operator to add two evening trains from March

Neighbour’s dog bit postman, says council, as owner is told to keep it on a lead

Summer fete raises £4,200 for the village hall roof

The Eastmark Wire

Homeowners say solar salesman promised ‘zero bills’; firm points to the small print

Eastmark Wire · Ashford

Forty homeowners in Ashford say they signed contracts for rooftop solar panels with BrightRoof Ltd after a salesman told them their electricity bills would ‘drop to zero’. Several now pay £60 to £90 a month on their bills, and some pay £30 a month on top for the panels.

BrightRoof says the contract, which each homeowner signed, states that savings figures are ‘estimates only’ and that the written contract is ‘the entire agreement between the parties’. The salesman, Marco Vell, has left the firm. ‘I never said anything that was not in the brochure,’ he told the Wire.

Homeowner Joan Pell says Mr Vell showed her a sheet headed ‘Your expected bill: £0’ and signed the bottom of it. She signed the contract on the doorstep the same evening. ‘I would never have signed if I had known,’ she said.

Councillor Rhys Calder called BrightRoof ‘a gang of fraudsters’. The Trading Standards Authority said it had ‘received a number of complaints and is assessing them’.

The Eastmark Wire

Rail operator to add two evening trains from March

Eastmark Wire · Kestrel Bay

Eastmark Rail announced two extra evening services on the Kestrel Bay line from March, after a rise in passenger numbers.

The Eastmark Wire

Neighbour’s dog bit postman, says council, as owner is told to keep it on a lead

Eastmark Wire · Ashford

The council told the owner of a large dog to keep it on a lead in public after a postman was bitten on Tuesday. The owner said the postman had opened the gate without warning.

The Eastmark Wire

Summer fete raises £4,200 for the village hall roof

Eastmark Wire · Ashford

The village fete raised £4,200 on Saturday. Organisers thanked volunteers and said the roof repair would begin in the autumn.

The Eastmark Wire is an invented news service. Every person, place and law here is fictional. No real news organisation is depicted.

Professional skills training with fictional material. It is not legal advice and is not accredited by any court, regulator or professional body.